i went to a school that had a drama department. in fact, it had a sort of adjunct theatre company called midnight youth theatre company. and through high school, i always did the school plays. i never got the lead roles, but i kind of was into it. butjenny davis, who remains a very good friend of mine, who s a theatre maker from perth of my parents generation, sort of wrote me a note one day and said, i m doing this version of love s labour s lost that has songs in it that someone else had written some years before. but we think the songs need to be rewritten, would you write the songs for it? we have a $500 budget, lovejenny. and it was on a card. you know, this is 1994. and i sort of thought, i don t know if i can do that, but if she s asking me to, she must think i can. but you were, what, 16? no, it was the year i turned 18. so i was 17 and a half. still quite an ambitious commission to take on. yes, i suppose so. but it was a youth theatre company